Let’s get a little introspective this Sunday.
Spring Training kind of snuck up on me — which is pretty surprising considering I did an entire countdown to pitchers and catchers reporting. It was like I blinked and Spring Training games had begun. If my memory and my math are correct, neither of which is a guarantee, 2025 will be my twelfth season covering the St. Louis Cardinals with Viva El Birdos. I blinked and that time seemed to pass as well. At some point the lyrics to “Landslide” started making sense to me and it all seemed to happen so quickly.
Spring is such an interesting time to me because it sort of naturally lends to reflection. It is a time full of symbolism regarding rebirth and beginnings. It is an especially hopeful time, rife with possibility. It represents a chance to make preparations that will hopefully with care and attention bear fruit when the time comes to reap what is sown.
Baseball kind of lends itself perfectly to that cycle, doesn’t it? The game itself is a constant cycle of renewal. Spring Training embodies that spirit of potential and change; the slate is wiped clean, and everyone starts with the same chance. Every season, every at-bat, every pitch is a new opportunity, no matter what happened in the past. You can only hope that the preparations you made will be enough to carry you through the harvest.
This all feels especially true for the Cardinals this season. After failing to make the playoffs in two consecutive seasons, the Cardinals are looking to, in their words “transition” the team to the next generation of players and management. This shift in mindset, this shift in focus is about as much a rebirth as I’ve seen in my time covering the St. Louis Cardinals. I think fans were disappointed in the offseason; the team didn’t trade away any veteran players, they didn’t acquire any big and shiny prospects. But there is something about this spring — maybe it is just me, but I feel an excitement in the air and when I look across this team most of what I see is budding potential.
I’ve seen enough Spring Trainings to know that it is unwise to put too much stock into what happens during them. This is the time of year when the articles come out about storylines to look for and I considered writing one, but at the end of the day there is not much to glean from thirty-ish Spring Training games and a handful of innings. Spring Training is more about preparation than performance. It is a chance to experiment and make adjustments. I am curious if Jordan Walker and Nolan Gorman were able to make adjustments working with new hitting coach Brant Brown. I want to see how Quinn Matthews and Tink Hence look against the big league roster. But mostly I just want to sit back and enjoy the games for what they are: a chance to reconnect with the game after a long, cold winter. It’s just baseball for the sake of baseball, played with joy and enthusiasm, with the promise of what’s to come.
Change is a process; it doesn’t happen overnight. The Cardinals are working towards building a team that is set up for the sustained success we have grown accustomed to watching. This Spring Training feels like a first glimpse into what that might eventually yield. It will not be easy as we have already seen; baseball is full of lessons in resilience and patience. But as the calendar turns to spring, it reminds us that the Cardinals can keep growing and improving, even after the toughest of seasons.
And so can we.
Happy Sunday!